As Modasa battles to tame the deadly Hepatitis-B outbreak in Gujarat, NDTV exposes the deadly syringe racket where used syringes are first hoarded and then sold. It’s believed this was the reason the disease spread so quickly in the district.
Saijuddin, a syringe dealer in Modasa, buys thousands of used syringes from private clinics and hospitals everyday and sells them to regular buyers from Ahmedabad and Himmatnagar. Unabashed, after he was caught on camera by NDTV, he explained how he did it.
“I buy it from several people and then sell it to merchants in bulk coming from Ahmedabad and Himmatnagar. I don’t know their names,” said Saijuddin.
The NDTV team found four large warehouses in and around Modasa where used syringes are stacked in gunny bags, ready for sale.
The state Health Department, which has so far denied the existence of any such organised racket, finally swung into action after NDTV informed Health Minister Jay Narayan Vyas about what it had found.
Twelve teams of the department carried out simultaneous raids across Gujarat and confiscated lakhs of used syringes - cleaned and repackaged.
On Wednesday, they registered four cases and booked the kingpin, Saijuddin.
‘These syringes should have been destroyed after use, but actually these have been resold in the market after just cleaning and packing,” said Rajneeth Kumar, Collector, Modasa.
The hub of recycling disposable syringes has been operational in Modasa for years. After the NDTV expose, actions have been just initiated by the Collectorate and Health Department as NDTV informed state Health Minister Jay Narayan Vyas about the racket.